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Alaska Kills 276 Wolves During Second Season of Wolf-Shooting

June 07, 2005 | Wolves

On April 30, 2005, the state of Alaska concluded its second aerial wolf-shooting program, killing 276 wolves between November 2004 and April, 2005. Since the program began in November, 2003, hunters have killed a total of 420 wolves.

Friends of Animals and our organizers across the country and around the world have held 231 Howl-In protest during the two seasons of wolf control. People have joined Friends of Animals and our organizers in 40 states, the District of Columbia, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Spain, and South Africa to protest Alaska's disgraceful conduct.

Participants and supporters have signed postcards pledging to boycott Alaska's $2 billion-a-year tourism industry until the state calls off the aerial wolf-shooting scheme. To date, Friends of Animals has distributed more than 470,000 of these postcards.

To spread the word, Friends of Animals advertisements have appeared in The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Mother Jones Magazine, The Nation, USA Today, the New Jersey Star Ledger, and other publications. We also have a compelling, 60-second TV spot that can be viewed on our website.

Persistence will be the key to ending aerial predator control programs. We continue to challenge the legality of Alaska's wolf-killing program in the Superior Court in Anchorage. Please write Gov. Murkowski and tell him you'll boycott travel to Alaska until his wolf control campaign ends.

Kindly support a tourism boycott of Alaska to put economic pressure on the people responsible for establishing the killing policy: the Murkowski administration. Your financial contributions to FoA strengthen our efforts to empower Alaska's wolves.

Comments

Submitted by Ana MarÃ­a Aboglio on Tue, 2005-06-07 16:00

Wolves are one of the most important non human animals in the worlds. They have intrinsic value as all the sentient beings but the wolf is also a symbol of the nature that the civilization wants to destroy and dominate. It is very important this program of Friends of Animals to de-mith-ing "the beast".
Ana MarÃ­a Aboglio.
Ãnima. Argentina.

Thank you for your kind note, Ana, and for joining the discussion. Do you mean that wolves have received a special designation as objects of acute human anger? It seems that this is indeed the case.
Jon Coleman, author of the new book *Vicious: Wolves And Men In America,* states that wolf-haters seek mementos of power ... a stockpile of masculine totems—guns, skins—and that their victims heads “helped a small man feel big.”
To paraphrase Alice Walker, the wolves exist for their own reasons. They might have been symbols to some, but to themselves, they are real individuals of flesh and blood, with mates, communities, and interests of their own. We strive to respect them on their own terms, and we'll continue our interventions on their behalf, hoping that others will join the call. Glad to have you with us.
Lee Hall,
Friends of Animals.

Hello Lee!
Yes, I mean that and more yet. I am thinking about mythical animal and the distortion of the meaning of the behaviour of wolves emphasizing some aspects of it to spread the anthropocentric idea that they embody the bad instincts of human animal.The wolfman. The ferocious wolf in Little Red Riding Hoods. "The beast of the desert and desolation", as T. Roosevelt called them. The features of their behaviour are very good for a hunting human society but are very bad for a cattleman and a few times people remember that it's because the wolf is the dog's ancestor that dogs are be able to cohabit with us.
In Europe there were horrific slaughters but in America I think it was worst. The cruelty was incredible. They were poisoned with others animals too. The wolves were tortured in public places until the death. (E.Curnow say that there was a "pathologic hate".) This cuestion isn't a problem with the real wolf.
Mike PHillips said that he had learned from wolves one important things among others: Humility. We have to create a new symbol: The wolf as a wonderful non human animal. A friend to Little Red Riding Hood.
Ana Maria Aboglio.

If the aerial wolf-hunting program isn't stopped then they'll hunt the Alaskan wolves to extinction just like North America has done to 7 other types of wolf. This way of killing them is brutal because the wolves can't fight back or even get away. People need to learn to conserve wildlife and not destroy it.

Perhaps you should travel to Oregon and let us hunt you. It is so simple to use guns to kill defenseless animals...just as we kill defenseless people in Iraq and Afghanistan. When will we learn to be part of the web of life instead of its detroyer!!!

You mean to tell me that there is not enough room in Alaska for wolves. If not there? Where? This is OUTRAGEOUS, do we start an aerial human hunt -- we definitely have too many of them? Wolves are vital to the environment! The killing of ANY animal because there are too many or because they have nice fur SHOULD BE STOPPED IMMEDIATELY. We are supposed to be on the top of the evolutionary ladder -- Are we sure about that? Why don't we stop human overpopulation? We don't do that, yet we kill innocent and vital animals. It's sickening, stupid, inhumane, and against God's law.

"North America" was in wonderful condition, a pristine paradise, when the humans from the other side of the water arrived. Now our world has been demolished, stolen from us, used. The soil cries out in pain, the trees wail. It's a big enough world--why can't we share it? Why must they see blood to be assured of their dominance? These humans are rulers more cruel than an alpha who has fallen victim to the foaming sickness. Yet we rest assured under the waning moon that there are a few who have not let go of the compassion that they were created to have.
star-scent

It fails to suprise that all of humanity has lost all sense of decency.We can find a cow in canada that may have had mad cow but we cant create a safe habbitat for wolves.The system is fundamentaly wrong and our elected officals are part of the problem.The powers that be have a big eraser,We all need to live by a diffrent set of rules.